The Apostasy of Israel

8 “Set the 1trumpet to your mouth!

He shall come alike an eagle against the house of the Lord,

Because they have transgressed My covenant

And rebelled against My law.

2 bIsrael will cry to Me,

‘My God, cwe know You!’

3 Israel has rejected the good;

The enemy will pursue him.

4 “They dset up kings, but not by Me;

They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.

From their silver and gold

They made idols for themselves—

That they might be cut off.

5 Your 2calf 3is rejected, O Samaria!

My anger is aroused against them—

eHow long until they attain to innocence?

6 For from Israel is even this:

A fworkman made it, and it is not God;

But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

7 “They gsow the wind,

And reap the whirlwind.

The stalk has no bud;

It shall never produce meal.

If it should produce,

hAliens would swallow it up.

8 iIsrael is swallowed up;

Now they are among the Gentiles

jLike a vessel in which is no pleasure.

9 For they have gone up to Assyria,

Like ka wild donkey alone by itself;

Ephraim lhas hired lovers.

10 Yes, though they have hired among the nations,

Now mI will gather them;

And they shall 4sorrow a little,

Because of the 5burden of nthe king of princes.

11 “Because Ephraim has made many altars for sin,

They have become for him altars for sinning.

12 I have written for him othe great things of My law,

But they were considered a strange thing.

13 For the sacrifices of My offerings pthey sacrifice flesh and eat it,

qBut the Lord does not accept them.

rNow He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.

They shall return to Egypt.

14 “For sIsrael has forgotten this Maker,

And has built 6temples;

Judah also has multiplied ufortified cities;

But vI will send fire upon his cities,

And it shall devour his 7palaces.”

Judgment of Israel’s Sin

9 Do anot rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples,

For you have played the harlot against your God.

You have made love for bhire on every threshing floor.

2 The threshing floor and the winepress

Shall not feed them,

And the new wine shall fail in her.

3 They shall not dwell in cthe Lord’s land,

dBut Ephraim shall return to Egypt,

And eshall eat unclean things in Assyria.

4 They shall not offer wine offerings to the Lord,

Nor fshall their gsacrifices be pleasing to Him.

It shall be like bread of mourners to them;

All who eat it shall be defiled.

For their bread shall be for their own life;

It shall not come into the house of the Lord.

5 What will you do in the appointed day,

And in the day of the feast of the Lord?

6 For indeed they are gone because of destruction.

Egypt shall gather them up;

Memphis shall bury them.

hNettles shall possess their valuables of silver;

Thorns shall be in their tents.

7 The idays of punishment have come;

The days of recompense have come.

Israel knows!

The prophet is a jfool,

kThe spiritual man is insane,

Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.

8 The lwatchman of Ephraim is with my God;

But the prophet is a 1fowler’s snare in all his ways—

Enmity in the house of his God.

9 mThey are deeply corrupted,

As in the days of nGibeah.

He will remember their iniquity;

He will punish their sins.

10 “I found Israel

Like grapes in the owilderness;

I saw your fathers

As the pfirstfruits on the fig tree in its first season.

But they went to qBaal Peor,

And 2separated themselves to that shame;

rThey became an abomination like the thing they loved.

11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird—

No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!

12 Though they bring up their children,

Yet I will bereave them to the last man.

Yes, swoe to them when I depart from them!

13 Just tas I saw Ephraim like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place,

So Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.”

14 Give them, O Lord—

What will You give?

Give them ua miscarrying womb

And dry breasts!

15 “All their wickedness is in vGilgal,

For there I hated them.

Because of the evil of their deeds

I will drive them from My house;

I will love them no more.

wAll their princes are rebellious.

16 Ephraim is xstricken,

Their root is dried up;

They shall bear no fruit.

Yes, were they to bear children,

I would kill the darlings of their womb.”

17 My God will ycast them away,

Because they did not obey Him;

And they shall be zwanderers among the nations.

Israel’s Sin and Captivity

10 Israel aempties his vine;

He brings forth fruit for himself.

According to the multitude of his fruit

bHe has increased the altars;

According to the bounty of his land

They have embellished his sacred pillars.

2 Their heart is cdivided; 1

Now they are held guilty.

He will break down their altars;

He will ruin their sacred pillars.

3 For now they say,

“We have no king,

Because we did not fear the Lord.

And as for a king, what would he do for us?”

4 They have spoken words,

Swearing falsely in making a covenant.

Thus judgment springs up dlike hemlock in the furrows of the field.

5 The inhabitants of Samaria fear

Because of the ecalf 2of Beth Aven.

For its people mourn for it,

And 3its priests shriek for it—

Because its fglory has departed from it.

6 The idol also shall be carried to Assyria

As a present for King gJareb.

Ephraim shall receive shame,

And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

7 As for Samaria, her king is cut off

Like a twig on the water.

8 Also the hhigh places of 4Aven, ithe sin of Israel,

Shall be destroyed.

The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars;

jThey shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!”

And to the hills, “Fall on us!”

9 “O Israel, you have sinned from the days of kGibeah;

There they stood.

The lbattle in Gibeah against the children of 5iniquity

Did not 6overtake them.

10 When it is My desire, I will chasten them.

mPeoples shall be gathered against them

When I bind them 7for their two transgressions.

11 Ephraim is na trained heifer

That loves to thresh grain;

But I harnessed her fair neck,

I will make Ephraim 8pull a plow.

Judah shall plow;

Jacob shall break his clods.”

12 Sow for yourselves righteousness;

Reap in mercy;

oBreak up your fallow ground,

For it is time to seek the Lord,

Till He pcomes and rains righteousness on you.

13 qYou have plowed wickedness;

You have reaped iniquity.

You have eaten the fruit of lies,

Because you trusted in your own way,

In the multitude of your mighty men.

14 Therefore tumult shall arise among your people,

And all your fortresses shall be plundered

As Shalman plundered Beth Arbel in the day of battle—

A mother dashed in pieces upon her children.

15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,

Because of your great wickedness.

At dawn the king of Israel

Shall be cut off utterly.